REVIEW: BY THE END OF TONIGHT: THE IMAGINARY EP

Lets talk about speakers. In our life, there are often several sets that we encounter sound through on a given day. The clock radio in the morning. The car stereo on the drive to work. The laptop speakers in the office. The earbuds as we walk to lunch. And then finally, the best speakers for last, the evening speakers. If your ritual is similar, then we share a great pleasure, one which conjures up in our mind only the early proclamation in Tolstoy’s War and Peace: A nap in the afternoon is golden. These are the best speakers no doubt due in part to the fidelity of their sound reproduction, but more critically, because they are, for the first time all day, the speakers we deliberately and listen to. Seated in a comfortable chair, facing them, with the perfect balance and positioning, rapt and surrounded by the music emanating from them.

Not writing, not reading, not IMing – just ingesting, as intent as though waiting to hear the name of a loved one called aloud so we can stand and cheer. For the first time compositions are more than just the buzz that cuts through the perilous distractions of our life: the traffic, the report to be completed, the menu to be pondered. We’ve never been meditating types, and not one among us thinks we could ever blot out all the thoughts that distract from pure contemplation of the self. But we think we know the peace that it brings, and we find that peace here, in front of these evening speakers.

It wasn’t until taken through this golden afternoon nap that we could really begin to wrap our heads and hearts around By The End of Tonight’s The Imaginary EP. Many recordings, by this band and others, are more immediate, and can be processed and neatly stored away in our gray matter databanks in jetports or propeller planes. But not this. This is a true evening speaker record, much in the same way Orbital was once described as an arm-chair and headphones dance band. Josh Smith’s entry in to the quartet of solo releases combines subdued live guitar with sequencers and the occasional foley-stage chip-in, resulting in our desert-island EP of the series.

Imagine the score for an uplifting moment by Darren Aronofsky, balanced with yesterday’s winter and tomorrow’s sun; bliss in the light and very little fear in the dark, just a slight chill of the wet air sneaking its way between the teeth of your zippy’s zipper. Delightful like the evenings speakers. If you don't have this ritual, start it. If you do, spend an evening with The Imaginary. Recommended.

MP3: By The End of Tonight - When It Rains I Think of You